A quarter of UK children did not have a quiet place to study at home during lockdown, with lack of a suitable workplace a bigger problem than not having a computer, research suggests.
Academics from Exeter University found that while 91 per cent of children aged nine to 16-year-olds had a computer and 90 per cent had a good internet connection in the autumn term, only 74 per cent had a quiet place to study.
The survey, which had 1,432 respondents, also found that children from the richest fifth of families were 21 percentage points more likely to report having a quiet place to work compared to the children from the poorest fifth (88 per cent versus 67 per cent).
Catch up on the latest news impacting schools – in the age of covid
In another survey of parents in March 2021 with 2,757 responses, parents were also more likely to flag lack of a suitable workspace for their child as a barrier to effective homeschooling than digital divides.
Seventeen per cent of parents cited a lack of a suitable study area as a key barrier to learning, compared to 8 per cent…
